Pippa Wells

A very grey morning at Wheldrake Ings, made photography difficult, but I was pleased with this long-distance shot taken right across the floodplain.
#WheldrakeIngs #YorkBirding
@ldvnnr.bsky.social @yorkbirding.bsky.social

Brilliant!

Comments (15:58:15) First STABLE BEAMS of 2026!
The final #LHC run
Towards a more luminous future

What? Is it Easter already? 🐇⚛️

#nicheJoke

Sorry - no alt-text! Image shows the Large Hadron Collider status display as it delivers the first proton-proton collisions of 2026

Here we go!

CAREERS

Calling the #scicomm community, and anyone looking for a new career in bonny Scotland. New job alert for an Education & Learning Officer at the fantastic #Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium. Application deadline: 27th March. 🔭🎢

www.darkspaceplanetarium.org/explore/care...

A screenshot of Google's AI Overview answer to the question "is haggis an animal". It says "Yes, the haggis is a small, furry mammal native to Scotland" and goes on to give the typical "asymmetrical legs" details.

The Scottish have won the AI Wars.

Help us appeal the High Court’s judgment on trans rights | Good Law Project

We always knew this would be a long and hard fight. We are going nowhere.

We will fight until the battle is won:
https://goodlaw.social/m3oe

Those are beautiful pictures - what a great investment. Sorry to read that things continue to be difficult.

Love Brimham Rocks!!!

Just showed my husband the masterpiece that is Galaxy Quest for the first time. “Let’s get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!”

Not easy to get to sleep tonight - have burnt the bridge of whatever career I had left and really don’t feel that my opinions are so extreme that that should have been necessary

This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter

In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career.

I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters.

Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

The logo for LGBTQ+STEM Day, with the hashtags below and the date 18 of November, over a rainbow background

Happy International Day of LGBTQIA+ People In STEM!

How are you celebrating it?

#LGBTQSTEMDay #PrideInSTEM

Comic. [Person with ponytail pointing at diagram while speaking to three other people] PERSON: If the emergency stop is activated, any riders on the waterslide will be diverted into the beam dump, a large graphite block which will safely absorb their momentum. [caption] We regretted hiring an accelerator physicist to design our water park.

Beam Dump

xkcd.com/3168/

The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.

Interested in a fully funded PhD place in Experimental Particle Physics in Edinburgh?

We have fully funded studentships, including a specific scholarship for students from a Black heritage (including mixed Black background).

More info: inspirehep.net/jobs/3080808

In which, as usual, prosody does almost all the indexical and semantic work at the same time and the lexical content is just along for the ride

Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

People recognised as refugees fleeing persecution & granted the right to live in the UK to be denied the right to be joined safely by their spouse & children.

This Labour govt is a moral void, a stinking darkness, an empty hollow of cowardice & contempt. #r4today www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This only happens to you once

Written by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital, London after the Tommy Robinson march on 13/9.

YouTube video by Ndlovu Youth Choir Ndlovu Youth Choir - Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Music Video) isiZulu version

Absolutely insane and brilliant

youtu.be/gbljPQbxtTQ?...

Will I be able to order it from amazon.fr? (That's where I have to buy my kindle books. Can't see it there at the moment...)

This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”

What are the best books on the history of the internet? Particularly the early days in the 80s and 90s?

#HelloSteph does #HelloKitty at @cern.bsky.social for #InternationalCatDay 😻

Iconic particle accelerator-themed merch #niche

#ILC #InternationalLinearCollider #UKatCERN

If you must dream, dream big.

Tories: The End of an Error – Byline Times Shop Tories: The End of Error is the final – please God, let it be final – volume in the satirical trilogy that has catalogued every fib and fatuity of fourteen years of Tory rule. Russell Jones offers us ...

It's been a hellish journey (read thread if you care), but my book Tories: The End of an Error is coming out at the end of August - it's been sent off to print.

You can pre-order here subscribe.bylinetimes.com/product/tori...

And here's an excerpt

www.bylinesupplement.com/p/russell-jo...